Cohen: Mets ‘still engaged’ to Alonso

Presented to the press spokesman this afternoon Juan SotoMets owner Steve Cohen said the team is “still busy.” Pete Alonso (Link via Tim Britton and Will Sammon of the Athletic). This came a few days after president of baseball operations David Stearns said at the winter meetings that the team would “love to bring Pete back.”

There hasn’t been much public talk about Alonso’s free agency. Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote last night that Alonso would be interested in joining the Yankees if the Mets don’t make serious attempts to keep him. However, relations between the Americans and Alonso have been quite loose as they are reportedly seen as stronger candidates Christian Walker. Aside from the New York teams, talks about the Alonso market have been speculative. The Nationals and Giants are among the teams that could use a slugger at first base, but there is no clear evidence that they were involved.

Alonso rejected a qualified offer last month. Every team aside from the Mets would forfeit draft picks and/or international signing bonus slots to add him. The Mets would give up the right to receive a compensatory pick, but that wouldn’t come until after the fourth round if he were to leave. It’s a minimal barrier.

The bat has had a relatively bad year. Alonso hit .240/.329/.459, the first time in his career that he had an OPS below .800. His 34 home runs are a personal low over a full season. It’s not an ideal time for his performance to decline, but there’s obviously value in a player hitting 30+ home runs. Alonso was incredibly durable and started 160 games last season. He stepped up in the postseason, hitting .273/.431/.568 with four home runs in 13 games.

As MLBTR outlined in a post for Front Office subscribers last month, Alonso is a difficult free agent to evaluate. His reputation could prompt his camp to pursue a deal that is nearing or reaching its peak Matt Olson ($168 million) and Freddie Freeman ($162 million with deferrals). However, front offices have increasingly devalued this general profile. Alonso has limited defensive and baserunning stats, while his average and baserunning percentage are mediocre.

Stearns preferred not to invest heavily at first base during his time as the Brewers’ director of baseball operations. Of course, Milwaukee only had a fraction of the Mets’ payroll under Cohen, so that’s not necessarily an indication of how Stearns will operate in Queens. Even after paying Soto a record-breaking average annual value of $51 million, New York has an estimated luxury tax payroll of about $252 million (via RosterResource). By the end of the offseason, that value will likely be over $300 million. Financially they could definitely accommodate Alonso. New York also needs to add at least one starter and will likely add depth to the bullpen with another acquisition or two.